Aria woke up on the hard cavernous floor as it was her turn to keep watch. Scarlet, who had bags under her eyes, immediately went back to sleep and was able to finally dived into deep sleep. Aria tended the fire by adding more twigs that were about to ran out. Fortunately, the storm outside seemed to be dampening down and had finally stopped when the morning sun dispelled it. The 3 girls, maybe except for Scarlet, felt refreshed and began to pack their belongings to travel back to Roantar. They chatted along the way.
Marion was a sword master as she came from a noble linage excelling in combat. Her noble family had been in the forefront of war, leading knights and soldiers to victory. She was only capable of using wind magic, but she had it at level 3. "I am turning fifteen this year. In fact, I will be celebrating my birthday in 3 months time, when the autumn wind begins to blow the leaves."
Scarlet Fragos was the daughter of a merchant and was adept with magic, especially fire magic which she was very proficient at. She was also decent at using water magic, but she did not use it as often. She had travelled with Marion for almost 1 year and had picked up a little bit of close-quarter combat from her, but she was still lacking in many parts. "I just turned 13 last month."
"Wait, you are older than me?" Aria was a little surprised since Scarlet was shorter than her with a cuter face albeit with gaze as sharp as Aria.
"What is that supposed to mean!?" Scarlet was seething as she pointed her trembling fist at Aria. "Just so you know, I am still growing! Rather, it is you who are tall for your age! Marion as well!"
"Well, I am sorry for that..." Aria awkwardly smiled.
"Hahaha, even if you stop growing, you would still be a beautiful lady."
"Don't jinx me! I am definitely growing and I will be strong enough to kick your ass!"
"Even after a year of travelling with me, you have yet to put me down."
"Well, considering that you are a head taller than me, even I will have a hard time." Aria's casual remark had unknowingly hurt Scarlet.
They continued south from the mountainous region of the Green Needle forest and saw the wreckage of trees and rocks strewn all over the clearing. Aria explained that this was the arena where she was blown away by the monster's breath. Marion and Scarlet were flabbergasted after looking at the extend of the damage.
"All of this was caused by 2 monsters? How terrifying..." Marion walked over the uprooted tree trunks and rocks as debris cracked underneath her boots.
"Banbaro and Barioth. The former being the one who caused such wreckage with every steps it made and the latter being the one who blew the snow into violent storm."
"That means, the vibration that we felt yesterday before we entered the cave must have been caused by this Banbaro creature. Just how big is that thing?" Scarlet caressed the fallen log that was crushed. "Having enough power to wreck such gigantic trees..."
"The Banbaro that I encountered was at least 25 meters and stood as tall as a 3 storey house. If I stand next to it, I am probably around one third the size of its feet."
"That sort of comparison makes you wonder how creature of that size has never been seen nor reported." Scarlet had a droplet of cold sweat running down her forehead despite the chilly environment. "I assume, the other creature was equally as big?"
"The second one is longer, slimmer and more agile. It is also a natural predator of the Popo."
"Speaking of which, I am not seeing any Popo here. I think that creature drove them out. It is also a good thing since there is no adventurers or knights and scouts getting caught up in that colossal battle." Marion gave out a little sigh of relieve.
"? What do you mean by that? There should have been a number of corpses since many were, just like me, caught up in that...!" Aria scanned her surrounding and found no visible corpse of the people that were killed. "The corpses may have been buried by the snow but, this area here, although some trees had been knocked down, it should be more well protected from the snow. There should be some part of the corpses poking out of the snow. Unless... they were eaten..."
"You mean, that second monster came back and swallow them whole?" Marion was concerned.
"I am unsure. Barioth tend to hunt larger meals to satiate its hunger. Human-sized meal should not be on its menu and will only attack when we enter its territory... Everyone! Ready your weapons!" With Aria's warning, both Marion and Scarlet became serious. Marion drew her double-handed sword while Scarlet readied her magic staff. The rustling of the debris and snow grew closer. Aria swung down her blades and, like a signal, several monsters burst out of the snow.
Marion and Scarlet were startled, but they were ready and struck the enemies down while avoiding their attacks. Aria's downwards swing hit the monster travelling within the thick snow and it surfaced out while writhing in pain. Several of these creatures started to reveal themselves to the party as they surrounded their targets. They had thick white fur covering their body and were quadrupedal with long tail. The faces were coloured blue and orange with ape-like features. Their overall slim build allowed them to bury themselves within the snow and grabbed unsuspecting prey.
"They are individually called Blango. A pack animal that scavenged the land to feast. I am willing to bet that these were the one who ate those corpses." Aria explained while cautiously looking around for any sudden attacks. Just as she finished her sentence, a loud bellow rung across the area and a larger version of the Blango emerged from the forest, standing proudly atop a large log. Despite its similarities to the Blango, this monster had a more pronounced upper body, a pair of long mustache and nose spikes that protruded sideways. Its fangs were long and cannot be contained within its mouth. The bluish crown that the Blango had had became cone-shaped and sat atop its head, indicating its authority. "Ah... this is the leader of the pack: Blangonga."
"We are currently surrounded. Any idea how we can get out of this dire situation?" Marion questioned her party members. "Does taking out that leader will cause the gang to disperse?"
"Taking out the leader is the upmost importance since it can call out more Blangos, but the Blangos that are here will fight till the end. They are all weak to fire, so Scarlet's proficiency in fire magic will be the fight ender. Of course, I will step in with my fire magic as well if she failed."
"Hah! Don't assume that I will fail. When my brilliant magic exploded in their faces, all of you will applause!"
"Aria, I will take on the leader to hopefully weaken it while you go around taking down the gang members. Protect Scarlet while she continuously blast off her magic onto these monsters."
"Careful of that leader. It is 3 to 4 times your size, but is really fast. If you can overcome that, I have no objection." The Blangonga charged and pounded down with its fists, but Marion leapt to the side while cutting its face.
Scarlet started her chant and shot out several fireballs that glowed in fiery brilliance towards the Blangonga that was stunned from Marion's counter attack. The 5 large fireballs hit Blangonga's face with stunning accuracy, hitting it one after the other. The burning sensation sent the pack leader into a world of pain as it writhed around on the snow to snuff out the fire and offset the pain. In its struggles, Marion attacked from the rear by unleashing several devastating slashes upon its long tail. Aria ran around the battlefield while keeping the Blangos away.
The injured Blangonga was furious and jumped back, almost hitting Marion who had slid underneath to barely avoid it. Several fireballs flew, but they were all avoided as the agile Blangonga leapt towards Scarlet. Scarlet rolled back as the impact flung snow into the air, obscuring the monster for a moment, but when the snow settled, the figure of the beast had vanished. Both Marion and Scarlet were stunned, but Aria shouted that the monster had burrowed into the thick snow and to watch their legs.
"Not if I melted the entire area!" Scarlet began to gather her magic as she climbed up a large rock. "Fire! Fill the raging soul of my sun!"
Marion and Aria hastily fled the scene, leaving Scarlet exposed and, taking it as an opportunity, the Blangos turned their attention to the red-haired girl. The Blangos, seeing the intense fiery light gathering on Scarlet's magic staff, opted to dug into the snow, thinking that it would protect them as they burrowed their way towards the target. The pack leader, Blangonga, launched a surprised attack to Scarlet's back, believing that it was out of her attack range. However, before the attack connected, Scarlet finished her spell. "Novus Stella!"
As if time had stop, the light scattered from Scarlet's staff and engulfed her surrounding in brilliant flame. The fiery light exploded out like an omnidirectional whirlwind with Scarlet as its eye. The surrounding snow melted in a blink of an eye and the Blangos were boiled within the snow that they took cover in. The symphony of screams followed after the explosive shock wave. Soon, the Blangos' song died out as they left their carcasses lying around.
"Hey Marion, is this a level 4 fire magic?"
"After witnessing this, I am not sure. This magic is, allegedly, her original spell that engulfed her immediate surrounding in fiery pool of flames in an instant." Marion looked around and finished off the remaining Blangos that survived the magic attacks. "Which is why, it is surprising that that big guy over there is still alive despite being in such close proximity."
Aria saw the injured Blangonga and rushed in with her air step to deal several slashes. However, the leader of the pack was more resilient than expected as it recovered its stance despite the injuries and let out a loud bellow that rippled across the battlefield. All 3 girls covered their ears and the monster took this opportunity to jumped out of the now warm pool of water and into the familiar cold snow. Without missing a beat, it plunged its forelimbs into the snow and launched a giant snowball towards Aria; it connected as Aria fell into the warm pool of water. Marion came in to aid Aria while Scarlet started to chant her next spell, but was disturbed when Blangonga shot out its icy breath, knocking her down as well.
"Why is it still going strong even after taking my fire attacks?!"
"It is a very resilient monster, but your magic attack has probably knock down its health to half!"
"Health? Is that something you can quantify just by looking at it?" Marion dashed towards Blangonga after helping Aria. "Wind. I beseech you to be my blade. Wind cutter!"
Blangonga leapt as it dodged the attack and targeted the incoming Marion as it raised it fists and slammed it down. Marion, thankfully, avoided the devastating attack by rolling diagonally while simultaneously slashing the monster. Aria followed up by unleashing powerful slashes with her Pulsar Hatchets on Blangonga's head and spun sideways while she kept on slashing as the monster tried to punch Aria. She had apparently activate her demonic aura, a characteristic that she remembered from the game in her previous life when using the dual blade called the Demon Mode. Marion soon joined as she stabbed and slashes the beast whenever there was an opening left by Aria. Scarlet shot out several fireballs whenever the Blangonga leapt out of the melee arena, keeping the pressure on the beast.
The Blangonga, who was constantly attacked, let out a call to gather more of its pack members and surely enough, more Blangos popped out of the snow. The pack members began to attack Scarlet, forcing her to defend herself with her close-quarter combat skill as she swung her large magic staff in wide arcs to keep her enemies away. Blangonga, having distracted Scarlet, once again escaped the arena and shot out is breath attacks towards Aria and Marion in a wide sweeping motion; both were immediately knockdown, but Aria quickly recovered and shot out several fireballs that hit Blangonga, breaking its fangs.
"Nice!" Marion got back up and approached the flinched Blangonga and delivered more attacks, but the beast raised its fists and slammed them to the ground, creating a localised quake. Marion, luckily, ducked beneath the monster to avoid the attack, but was stunned from the shaking ground that she lost her footing. "That was close."
Blangonga immediately buried into the snow.
"Marion, dodge!" Aria shouted as she ran towards Marion, but it was too late as she was hurled into the air when Blangonga burst out of the snow under her. Marion, now in the midst of falling, began to chant her air magic to cushion the fall and managed to let out a small puff of air before landing, but the impact was still strong as she plunged onto the semi-frozen pool of water. "Marion, recover yourself first! I will handle this monster!"
Marion got back on her feet despite the pain and took out her last vial of potion. She quickly drank it to recover her vitality, but still felt some pain on her back. "That got me good."
Aria continued her onslaught and managed to land several powerful blows, breaking its tail. The monster flinched from the pain and limped away in order to escape as it had reached its limit
"Wind. Gather my will around my blade and destroy my enemy! Pouncing whirlwind!" Marion gathered her magic and, like a gust of wind, flew past Aria who had depleted her stamina and straight towards the fleeing Blangonga. The wind swirling around her body concentrated into her long sword as she did her downward swing. The blow connected on Blangonga's back and the wind engulfed the beast in a torrent of chaos. Blangonga was immediately immobilised as it was swept up in the fury of wind that lifted both the snow and its heavy body into the air. Wind and debris violently cut the Blangonga while the snow obscured its vision. As the wind began to died down, the beast tried to regain its stance, but from the obscure wall of snow, a blade entered its vicinity.
"This is the end, you foul creature!" Marion hands glowed as she charged into the chaos and pierced her sword into Blangonga's chest. Using the sword as support and the remaining wind as momentum, she jumped up. As she reached the zenith, she flicked her sword out of the monster's chest and raised it overhead. When gravity pulled her down, she swung down with all her might towards Blangonga's already damaged head; the powerful blow connected as the blade cracked the skull and tore its face.
The wind died, causing the snow to fall and with it, the struggling beast fell as well.
"Hah, hah, hah..." Marion fell on her back as she took several breaths to regain her stamina. Aria and Scarlet, after finishing off the remaining Blangos, came rushing and helped Marion by letting her rest against a log.
"Here, have some water." Scarlet opened up her water sack and feed it to Marion. "What was that move? It is something that I have never seen before."
"I do not know. It just happen based on my instinct and desire to take down this monster; to protect my traveling comrades and to avenge those who had their bodies desecrated by these beasts, unable to reunite with our Lord above." Marion turned to Aria. "Besides, you moved with such impressive agility and ferocity that I marveled at it. I feel like, I should not lose to someone way younger than me and that somewhat lit up a fire in me to push myself."
"Strong feelings and determinations, huh." Aria muttered to herself.
"Sigh, next time, be more careful." Scarlet gave out her advice and looked at Marion's hands. "Also, I thought I saw your hands glow for a while. It had a yellowish hue, similar to your hair colour. What was that? Let me check on you hands to make sure."
"Glowing hands? So, it was not just me, huh." Marion took off her thick winter gloves and inspected her hands. "Wait, why is there a picture of wing drawn on each palm of my hands? I do not remember ever having this."
"The mark of Angelos." Aria expressed her bewilderment.
"Angelos? Oh yeah, now that you mention it, this does look like a simplified symbol for the God's Messenger. I have seen the symbol once when my family and I visited our domain's capital's temple. I was really young at the time and so, I may have forgotten a lot about that visit." Marion chuckled. "Does this mean that I am blessed by our Lord? Hahaha."
"Hah! In your dream." Scarlet scoffed at Marion's claim. "If God only choose certain individuals, then he is not a fair god. It is our own efforts that makes us who we are and if we rely on his blessing all the time, you will be in for a horrifying experience."
"Hahaha... that is harsh." Marion gave out a wry smile before getting back onto her feet. "Now then, we should get going. Let us go back to the town and inform the guild about these creatures. I bet we are going to get a lot of money from these."
"True, especially for me, since I have lost quite a number of things due to yesterday's event..." Aria stopped on her track and listened to the surroundings, expanding her senses beyond. "Wait, something is not right."
"What is it?" Marion, as well as Scarlet, halted and turned to Aria.
"It is too quiet. All the commotions that we and these monsters have caused... It should have attracted the attention of some adventurers or even knights who are scouting the area. Especially with the lucrative prey to hunt, there should have been many more people roaming around the Green Needles forest."
Marion, Scarlet and Aria looked at each other and then at their surroundings. They felt the eeriness as if they were isolated in the middle of a forest. Feeling uneasy, they decided to hurry back to Roantar.
***
When they were about to reach the city, they heard several thunderous commotions coming from their destination. As the edge of the forest was becoming visible, they saw several people hiding or running away from the direction of the city in panic: women, children, men and elderly, all different sort of people could be seen. Some were injured while others were unscathed.
"What is going on?" Marion approached an injured man and reached out for her potion only to realise that she had ran out of it.
"Let me." Aria began to cast healing magic on several injured people while also asking about the commotions.
"The city is under siege. Several unknown monsters just appeared out of nowhere and start attacking the city."
"Unknown monsters..." Marion and Scarlet rushed out of the forest and what they saw was chaos. Several knights were fighting against gigantic monsters while most of the adventurers were fleeing or cooped up behind the city wall. Monsters were fighting against each other while ripping apart meat of the fallen. Magic were launched, blades were clashing and bones were crushed. "What are these...?"
Aria followed up after conducting several emergency healing on the injured. "What the!? Just as I had feared. These monsters..."
"What do you mean, Aria?" Marion eyes were shaking and she grabbed Aria by her shoulders. "You know that this would have happened?! You should have warned everybody!"
"I just arrived yesterday! When I saw those Popo, I wrote a report to the guild master, warning him about the potential appearance of these monsters!"
"You should have done more!" Marion shook Aria.
"Calm down! I am unsure about this myself! That is why I just inform the guild master! I just listed down the potential predators of Popo and gave it to him, hoping that he would take necessary precaution in case any one of them appear!" Aria shoved Marion's hands away. "I did not expect that all of them would appear at the same time. I guess overhunting those Popos lead them to seek food from human settlements."
"Both you, incoming!" Scarlet swung her staff against the approaching monster. "Leave the argument for later! We need to defend ourselves as well!"
"Baggi. Be careful of their spit! It can cause you to fall asleep and become easy prey for them!" Aria unsheathed her blades and repelled several Baggis while jumping to avoid getting hit by the sleep-inducing spits. Similarly, the others began to shift their attention and prepared for battle. "That is the leader of the pack, the Great Baggi! It is more aggressive and overall, way stronger!"
"Similar pattern to that beast we just defeated, right?!" Scarlet focused on the large bipedal creature with bluish hue and large crest chasing some fleeing adventurers. "Take down the leader and the rest are easy picking!"
Scarlet shot out several fireballs that exploded around the Great Baggi, causing it to flinch and its prey to escape. The monster was furious and charged at Scarlet, revealing its razor teeth to lacerate its target. Fortunately, Scarlet managed to chant her spell that erected a swirling wall of fire that deflected Great Baggi's lunge as well as burning it. Undeterred, the beast launched its spit, but it sizzled when it came into contact with the flame. Seeing the futility, the Great Baggi lost interest and locked on others for its source of meal. Just as it noticed the people hiding within the forest, the fire wall dispersed and Scarlet dashed out while chanting. "Fire! Ignite my wrath! Fire burst!"
Scarlet swung her staff as her magic concentrated unto the tip and when it made contact with the Great Baggi, the magic exploded into a fiery cascade of bullets that splashed onto the monster. The Great Baggi, assaulted with the sudden inferno, fell and rolled on the snow in an effort to rid itself of the burning pain. Scarlet breathe a sigh of relieve and quickly assessed the situation. She saw Aria and Marion fighting against the numerous bipedal Baggis and some leftover Blangos that had apparently joined the chaos for opportunities to snatch some morsels. However, closer to the walled city, she saw a large white monster feasting on the carcasses of Popo while being disturbed by some smaller monsters that tried to get a bite of its meal.
"It seems, the large amount of Popos attracted the attention of these monsters and they are trying to get into the city where large amount of meat are being kept." Scarlet thought to herself before switching back her attention to the Great Baggi who had returned to its stance, furious. It gave out a wail that echoed throughout the battlefield and a large horde of Baggis came running towards their leader. "Good job on gathering your members. I will take them down with a single blow."
Scarlet concentrated and began to chant her signature spell. As the Baggis gathered, they circled around her, preventing her escape. They stopped and unleashed their spit but, they were too late; Scarlet unleashed her devastating 'Novus Stella' that wiped out the surrounding Baggis and evaporated their spits. The surrounding snow melted in an instant and form a large pool of warm water that continued to expand as it melted the peripheral snow. Similarly, the snow underneath Scarlet gave way and dropped her into the water as well.
"Scarlet! Are you fine?" Aria worried for Scarlet, but was relieved to see that Scarlet had swam her way into a nearby log and climbed on before drying herself with her fire magic.
"Thanks for your concern, but I am running out of mana!" Scarlet paddled her way into the Green Needles forest where there the snow did not melt and planted her feet onto solid land. "We cannot win like this!"
The carcasses of the Baggis floated around and soon, the water began to freeze, partially burying the dead. Its leader, however, was only slightly harmed from the sudden heat. It looked around and feasted on its dead clan members to regain its health. Scarlet looked at it with scorn and was hoping that it would be eaten by the other large monster. Just then, as if answering to her wish, a large monster burst out from the snow underneath the Great Baggi, sending it flying in the air.
"What!?" Scarlet was surprised, but decided to regroup with Aria and Marion who were equally surprised. "What monster is that!?"
The beast inhaled a large amount of fluid and bloated its belly. As the the Great Baggi fell back, it opened its mouth and bit off the falling beast's tail, chomping out a large portion of its massive body, causing it to bleed to death. The beast had a shark-like features with grayish-blue skin, yellow fins and 4 limbs that it used to drag itself around the icy ground. Its white belly protruded out comically, but its eyes were fierce.
"Zamtrios! Be careful, it can squashed you in that form!" Aria shouted her warning as she led several injured into the cover of the forest. "Its belly is flexible enough that blunt weapon will not be as effective!"
"Thank the Lord that it moves slowly." Marion aided several survivors as well. "However, the focus now is on that large white beast outside the city gate! If we can take it down, more will be able to safely evacuate!"
"That is Barioth! The very same monster that send me flying into the air! As of right now, we cannot defeat it! Plus, Scarlet is running out of magic power!"
"But still!" Marion shouted in frustration. "We can still repel or bait that beast away!"
"That beast is attracted to the large piles of Popo meat tucked within the city wall! It is not going to leave until it gets its paw on the food!" Aria leaned an injured civilian against the tree and headed back to the battlefield, but her senses warned her of danger. She turned around and saw a large shadow emerging from the forest, stomping down several survivors who had taken refuge underneath the trees. "Everyone, dodged!"
Banbaro appeared and trampled on the snowy ground that trembled with its every steps. Marion, Scarlet and several others jumped away from the beast's trajectory.
"It seems agitated, but why?" Aria had a bad premonition and as expected, the Banbaro seemed to have been chased by another ferocious creature. Aria was soon engulfed by the shadow of a large beast that jumped out of the forest and began sprinting with high velocity across the wide snowy plain.
"Another one!" Scarlet exclaimed in disbelief as she watched the beast pounced on the gigantic Banbaro, dragging it down across the snow.
"That big bipedal monster is Banbaro! The very same beast that fought against that Barioth yesterday! It usually does not attack unless provoked but, being chase has certainly thrown away any chance of peaceful resolution with it!"
"What about the other one!?" Marion dashed into the plain in desperate attempt to save those who had unfortunately failed to move away from the dangerous path; most were dead.
"An extremely aggressive monster that will kill everything that move!" Aria witnessed the chaos unfolded as the Banbaro threw its pursuer towards the city, landing violently in front of the wall as chuck of ice and snow were hurled into the air. As the powdery snow fell upon the beast, it stared fiercely into the soul of those who looked upon its eyes.
"Tigrex! The Roaring Wyvern!"